1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to data processing and, more particularly, to making a payment on a bill previously sent by a third party via a financial service provider using a network based device.
2. Related Art
Short codes—also known as “short numbers”—are special telephone numbers, shorter than full telephone numbers, which can also be used to address Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) messages from mobile phones or fixed phones. Short codes are intended to be shorter to read and easier to remember than normal telephone numbers. While similar to telephone numbers, short codes are generally unique to each operator, with some operators having agreements to avoid overlaps. In some countries—such as the United States—some classes of numbers are inter-operator numbers (called “common short codes” in the United States).
Short codes are widely used for value-added services such as television voting, ordering ringtones, charity donations, and mobile services. Messages sent to a short code can be billed at a higher rate than a standard SMS message and may, for example, subscribe a customer to a recurring monthly service that is added to the customer's mobile phone bill until a text message terminating the service is sent. In another example, short codes may be used to facilitate purchases from merchants using a mobile phone. Short codes are often associated with automated services. An automated program can handle a customer response and typically requires the customer to start the message with a command word or prefix. The service then responds to the command appropriately. For example, in ads or in other printed material where a provider informs about both a prefix and a short code number, the information may typically follow a long format—e.g., Text football to 72404 for latest football news—or a short format—e.g., football@72404.